'I Can't Respond To Every Piece Of Nonsense ...'

(Foreign Press Center briefing with Arab/Muslim media, April 11. Also participatingwere Ambassador Christopher Ross, special coordinator for public diplomacy, U.S.Department of State; Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; and PaulDenig, director, Washington Foreign Press Center.)

Paul Denig: Good morning ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Foreign PressCenter. We are glad to have you here this morning for a very special briefing. And I ampleased to be able to introduce to you the moderator of this morning's briefing,Ambassador Christopher Ross, a Middle East expert, and also the Special Coordinator forPublic Diplomacy and the Deputy to the Department of State's Under Secretary for PublicDiplomacy and Public Affairs. He will moderate this session, and I will hand this over tohim.

Chritopher Ross: Thank you, Paul. (In Arabic.) Good morning to all of you. It'sno secret that events in Iraq and our determination to help free the Iraqi people from theoppression and repression of the regime of Saddam Hussein, a subject that has been ofgreat interest to public opinion in the Arab and Muslim worlds. And this being the case,we thought it would be useful to organize some special briefings for the Arab and Muslimpress corps. And we're delighted to and honored to be able to inaugurate this smallinitiative with a gentleman whose 30 year career in government and academia has run acrossthe spectrum of the Foreign Affairs Agencies, the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, theDepartment of State, the Department of Defense. This career mirrors the military anddiplomatic complexities of the situation as we know it today. I first met this gentlemansome many years ago, but my most vivid memory of him is during a visit that he made in themid-1990's to Damascus where I was Ambassador. And I remember sitting with him and hisdelegation around my dining room table and having to field some very incisive and probingquestions. I won't go on any longer. This man is very well known to you. But for those whoread Al Kamen this morning, I present "that" Paul D. Wolfowitz.

Paul Wolfowitz: Thank you. And I have with me our second highest rankingMilitary Officer, General Peter Pace, United States Marine Corps, and one of themillion-and-a-half magnificent men and women who are serving our country -- and I believethe world -- so well. (In Arabic.) And if I may begin the way I learned to begin speecheswhen I was the American Ambassador in Indonesia -- (in Arabic) -- the rest will be inEnglish.

I'd like to make a few brief comments at the beginning, and then General Pace and Iwill take questions. I'd like to begin by emphasizing that the United States is sensitiveto the fact that people in the Middle East may view the war in Iraq with suspicion. Giventhe history of that region, it is understandable. But as a nation that had to fight forits own independence more than 200 years ago, Americans have the greatest sympathy for allpeople who yearn for freedom and independence and a chance to live in peace.

At the end of the American Revolution, the father of our country, George Washington,remarked, "My anxious recollection, my sympathetic feeling, and my best wishes areirresistibly excited whensoever in any country I see an oppressed nation unfurl thebanners of freedom." That is how Americans feel today, and it was on our minds as weundertook this war to remove Saddam Hussein and his regime. And I guess it might be worthnoting that our own independence was aided by foreign countries and foreign forces,notably from France and Poland. And it's, perhaps, also worth remembering that it took usa little while after our independence to organize the government.

I think a little historical perspective is useful in this era of 24 hour news coveragewhen we expect everything to happen instantaneously. In fact, the conflict in Iraq now isonly three weeks old. Coalition forces are on track and on plan. Tyranny has lost its gripand the Iraqi people are liberated -- or being liberated. While the outcome is not indoubt, however, the war is still going on. Operations are continuing and pockets ofresistance are being eradicated, both in Baghdad and a number of other towns and cities,particularly in the north.

From the start, we have made humanitarian assistance a crucial part of our mission. Thewar did not launch a humanitarian crisis, but it is ending one. In fact, I know that onone of the news channels this morning, an Arab woman, I think in Mosul, or, perhaps,Kirkuk, standing with her children outside one of Saddam's palaces and saying inmoderately good English -- although she kept trying to go back to Arabic -- "It's allmarble, marble – ‘mar-mar,’ I think -- and yet this man didn't give food tohis people. He abused his people." And this was an Arab woman.

We understand that the immediate need is to address basic needs like medical care,water, electrical service, and making sure Iraqi civil servants who administer thesefunctions get paid. Water is being -- I'd make another aside -- people are coming back toUmm Qasr. Iraqi civil servants are coming back to work; the port is functioning. In fact,the population of Umm Qasr has grown from 15,000 before the war to some 40,000 becausepeople see progress. Water is being provided where needed, particularly in Basra wherethere was a severe shortage imposed by the regime. Water supplies are now, we think, atpre-war levels, but they need to go up further.

Food and other supplies are flowing in. To date, $375 million worth of food -- that's590,000 metric tons -- have been provided by the United States. Of that amount, $200million was donated to the United Nations World Food Program. Other countries have beenmaking large contributions as well, including Australia and Kuwait. USAID, in addition,has contributed $246 million of humanitarian relief that includes blankets, hygiene kits,plastic sheeting, and water containers, tanks, and treatment plants. In the last few days,to pick another example, the Spanish ship, Galicia, arrived at Umm Qasr with a 50-bedfield hospital that will be moved up into Iraq to help treat Iraqi patients.

There has been a lot of talk about something we have called -- we do call the Office ofReconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance. Let me be clear, that office is not aprovisional government for Iraq. Its main function is to make sure that basic services arerestored and running. And once that happens, the plan is to turn over those functions asrapidly as possible to an Iraqi interim authority, which will assume increasingly greaterresponsibility for the administration of basic functions in the country.

But beyond that interim authority, the goal is to have a government that trulyrepresents the people of Iraq, that protects their basic rights, and allows them live indemocracy and freedom. The people of Iraq now have it within their power to establish aconstitution and a political system that will reflect their real wishes and interests. TheUnited States and its coalition partners will support them in this. But make no mistake,the task is an Iraqi task: the task is theirs, just as the country is theirs. We come asliberators, not as occupiers.

Americans have absolutely no desire to occupy Iraq. We will stay as long as necessary,but not a single day longer. As President Bush said just a few days ago, the Iraqis areplenty capable of running Iraq. And that's precisely what is going to happen. That hasbeen a major goal in our willingness to take this fight to Saddam Hussein, along with theurgent need to eliminate his weapons of mass terror, and remove Iraq as a safe haven forterrorists. It is tragic that those worthy goals could not be achieved without the use ofdeadly force, but this evil regime left no other option. And they tried to make the war aspainful as possible, particularly for civilians, by concealing military targets incivilian areas, by using human shields, and by violating the Geneva Convention.

We have been through some hundred schools in Southern Iraq so far. Every single one ofthem was a regime command and control center with weapons stored in them. As a result ofthat behavior, innocent people have suffered despite extraordinary efforts to avoidcivilian casualties. Those people are victims of this regime just as much as are theheroic men and women in the coalition forces who have sacrificed their lives in the callto Iraq's liberation, or the thousands of Iraqis over the last decades who have lost theirlives fighting this regime.

The sacrifices that people have made can only be understood in terms of the dramaticevents that the world witnessed two days ago. Those events tell a powerful story, thestory of free Iraqis celebrating their new-found freedom for the first time, welcomingcoalition troops, and tearing down those hideous statues of Saddam Hussein in CentralBaghdad and around the country. It was like watching the Berlin Wall come down all overagain. Lovers of freedom everywhere can understand the joy of the Iraqi people and theirhopes for the future, but the best spokesman for Iraqis are Iraqis themselves.

Yesterday, the French news agency, Agence France Presse, reported on a Baghdad streetscene that I think kind of sums it up. The reporter narrated what had happened when agroup of disillusioned Syrian fighters were looking for a ride back to Damascus. Theycould not comprehend the celebrations that welcomed American troops. An Iraqi taxi driverheard them and asked, "Who told you to come here?" He added, "You were onlyfighting for Saddam Hussein, who brought the country to ruins and let you down in theend."

Iraq is full of such stories. And now that people can at last speak freely andcandidly, we are hearing them. I would encourage all of you, and all of the peoplethroughout the Arab world, to listen with open minds and help the Iraqis tell theirstories to the world.

General Pace.

General Pace: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I think I will join with you now, sir,on answering questions.

Christopher Ross: Good. I'll be moderating the questions. When I call upon you,please identify yourself, your organization, and keep the questions short. And bear inmind please, we have just learned that General Pace must leave by 11, although DeputySecretary Wolfowitz may choose to stay longer.

Paul Wolfowitz: So you can point your questions to him.

Hanan El-badry, Egyptian Television. I have two questions: one for Mr.Wolfowitz, and one for General Pace. My first question, Iraqi federal demilitarized newgovernment will be a great chance for the Middle East (inaudible) the collapsing ofOttoman Empire or (inaudible). If you believe in that, can you tell us more details howthe Middle East will be after we have in touch a Democratic new country or new government?

My question for Mr. -- for General Pace, it will be: Are you going to allow bad forcesto enter Iraq soon -- or sooner or later?

General Pace: The important word you used is democratic. What the shape of Iraqis, and what kind of security forces they have are issues for Iraqis to decide when theyhave a government that represents them. It is important to the United States, and I thinkto every country in the region, that Iraq remain a unified country. And that's going to beanother challenge, but I think the Iraqi people can rise to it.

The simplest way I would have of saying it is, I remember years ago when peoplethroughout East Asia and the world said that democracy wasn't possible in East Asia exceptmaybe in Japan; that Koreans had no experience, or that the Filipinos hadn't done verywell with it -- the Chinese, and it's a long list.

By now, the Taiwanese have demonstrated that they can do democracy. The Koreans havedemonstrated that they can do democracy. I think the example of Iraqis demonstrating thatArabs are just as capable of managing those institutions as anyone else will have a broadand positive and powerful example, but there is a lot of work to be done to get to thatstage.

For the Middle East, please?

General Pace: I think for the Middle East, in particular.

Paul Wolfowitz: With regard to the Badr Corps, as you know, there have beenmembers of Badr Corps who have been living in Northern Iraq, in northeast section of Iraqfor some time now, as there had been members of other military groups. The coalitionmilitary forces have their own mission to overthrow a regime, to find and eliminate theweapons of mass destruction, to provide a stable environment inside of which the new IraqiGovernment can stand itself up and take over the operations of the government, and then wecan leave.

We are going to ensure, as best that we can, that all areas of Iraq remain stable, thatwe do not favor one group or another group, so that the Iraqi people can meet in the open,have open debate, and select their own form of government so that we can leave.

Christopher Ross: In the back, in the back row. No, you've got it. Yes.

Egyptian Television, Nile News Channel. Mr. Wolfowitz, we talked about change inSyria. Now what kind of change you are looking for? And if your demands are not respondedto positively, would it include regime change in Syria?

Paul Wolfowitz: You're way, way ahead of everything. You're not unique in that.What we are looking for is a change in the current bad behavior of the Syrian Governmentin shipping tariff fighters into Iraq, in sheltering fugitives from Iraq, possiblysheltering bad materials out of Iraq. Syria should not meddle in Iraq. It should not beassisting the people who supported that evil regime, and that behavior just has to stop.

Mahtab Farid from Radio Farda: Mr. Wolfowitz, Secretary Rumsfeld, SecretaryPowell, and Mr. Bolton repeatedly asked Syria and Iran to stay away, and Jack Straw isgoing to send some envoy to speak to the governments. Have you guys had a chance todiscuss what Mr. Straw is going to discuss with those two governments?

Paul Wolfowitz:I know that Secretary Powell and Foreign Minister Straw havediscussed these issues. I think, hopefully, the Syrians are starting to get the message.

Egyptian Television: Dr. Wolfowitz, the question is -- yeah, the question is forDr. Wolfowitz. Are you very surprised at all that Saddam Hussein and his regime did notuse weapons of mass destruction against you?

Paul Wolfowitz: Clearly, that was perhaps our single greatest fear. But I thinkit's also clear that this plan of General Franks, which we heard so much second-guessingabout two or three days into the war, was actually rather remarkably effective in gettingin there with a very capable force before, I think, the regime knew what was happening.

I think if we can get to the bottom of what did and didn't happen, we will find thatthat had a lot to do with what didn't happen and had a lot to do with the fact that therewasn't an environmental disaster in the south when the oil wells would have been exploded;that the explosives that were put on the oil platforms in the Shahab hadn't been riggedyet; that we haven't had what would have been a true disaster if oil wells in the northare exploded, because they are particularly noxious in what they put out; that we didn'thave missiles launched at Israel, which was one of our fears. Many things didn't happen.We don't yet know the reason why.

We do know one thing, though. At least one Iraqi soldier who surrendered in the southtold us that while he was very much afraid of what the regime would do to him if he didn'tcarry out orders to destroy oil wells, he'd read all those leaflets we dropped about whatwe would do if he did. He was torn between fear of the regime and recognition that we werecoming. I'm sure that knowing that we were already there made a big difference.

General Pace: If I could add also that there is still fighting going on. It isstill possible that there are those in control of some of those weapons. So we still haveIraqi leaders who have freedom of action and freedom of decision, and they need to do whatthey have been doing, which is to understand that it is their free will; that they canchoose to either become part of Iraq's future or to be part of Iraq's past; and that theiractions will be judged when this is completed. But it is still possible that there arethose out there who have weapons of mass destruction, who -- so I don't want to leave theimpression that this fighting is done, by any means.

Umit Erginsey of Turkey's NTV Television: Mr. Secretary and General Pace,regarding the tensions in Northern Iraq, in the event the Turkish army storms intoNorthern Iraq, despite all warnings by the United States, would you ever consider usingmilitary force against Turkish troops? And from this point on, what could be done tore-warm up the relations? Thank you.

Paul Wolfowitz: Look, the premise is that we're -- let me say. A great deal, Ithink, is going in a positive way between the United States and Turkey, between thecoalition forces and the Kurdish groups in Northern Iraq. Those two cities fell. They fellsurprisingly quickly when the regular army saw those statues toppling in Baghdad. We havenow U.S. forces, a significant presence in Kirkuk. There will soon be a significantpresence in Mosul. Turkey is sending liaison officers with those coalition troops soTurkey will have a clear view of what's going on. I think people understand the dangers ofpushing things, misbehaving in those crucial cities. You're going to have some problemsgoing forward sorting out competing property claims, as I think you know. That process hasto be done carefully in a legal manner, not by force.